Nov. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Spain exceeded its maximum target at
an auction of bills and its borrowing costs were little changed
from a month ago as euro region finance chiefs prepared to
discuss how to plug a hole in Greece’s funding.

The Treasury sold 4.94 billion euros ($6.32 billion) of
bills, compared with a maximum target of 4.5 billion euros, the
Madrid-based Bank of Spain said today. Its 12-month bills
yielded an average 2.797 percent, compared with 2.823 percent
when it last auctioned the debt on Oct. 16. The yield on 18-month notes rose to 3.034 percent from 3.022 percent last month.

Demand for the 12-month securities was 2.12 times the
amount sold, compared with 2.71 times at the previous auction
and demand for the 18-month paper was 5.72 times, compared with
3.04 last month.

Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said yesterday funding costs
are Spain’s biggest problem, even as he hesitates to request aid
that would allow the European Central Bank to buy its bonds.
Bond yields rose for a second day today as European finance
ministers sought a solution for Greece and France lost its top
credit rating at Moody’s Investors Service.

The yield on 10-year benchmark bond yields rose to 5.919
percent at 11 a.m. from 5.898 percent yesterday. That compares
with a euro-era record of 7.75 percent on July 25, a day after
Spain signed conditions for a 100 billion-euro European credit
line for its banks. The financial industry may need less than
the government’s previous estimate of 40 billion euros of that
aid, Miguel Temboury, Spain’s undersecretary for economy, said
yesterday.

The Treasury, which has already completed its 2012 bond
issuance program, is scheduled to return to the markets on Nov.
22 to auction as much as 3.5 billion euros of bonds maturing in
2015, 2017 and 2021.